Have you ever noticed that many change agents get into a rut when it comes to how they help others drive change?
Let that irony sink in.
I know you’ve seen it happen. You catch the Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Leader, Theory of Constraints Jonah, or fill-in-your-favorite-method-here-person once again running a group through their pet tool. They just keep doing “their thing” regardless of whether or not it will actually work on the specific problem. It’s almost soul crushing to watch.
How do you, a well-meaning-and-even-more-well-read change driver, help your also well meaning friends get unstuck?
How about inviting them to a class on some new methods? Today a group of 25+ change agents (notice I didn’t say stuck-in-a-rut change agents) completed Cognitive Edge’s practitioner fundamentals course. Thanks go out to Michael Cheveldave for guiding us through a fabulous two days.
Time will tell how much these new tools get into each change agent’s rotation of useful methods. Yet, I have every reason to believe that we’ve stimulated a new, beneficial pattern in the organization and I can’t wait to see how to amplifies the good that can be done when people choose to drive change.
So, if you’re a change agent that’s stuck in a rut (or you have a friend who is), consider getting unstuck with Michael and Cognitive Edge. I bet you’ll be glad you did.
Why not try?
An important post! So critical for process designers, change agents, facilitators and others to reach outside their echo chamber and expose themselves to new approaches, methods and ideas. Being known as the fill-in-your-favorite-method-here-person once again running a group through their pet tool is not someone I want to be. Lately I’m in a deep dive of the world of applied improv to expand my horizons as a facilitator – such good, rich, applicable learnings.
Your message is one of the reasons I like how a friend described me – a process artist. I think of it as working with an ever changing palette to create what is needed in this moment in time for this particular group doing this particular work together. But not in a flaky-flavour-of-the-month way; grounded in a solid design approach and principles that help me stay anchored, not wishy washy.
Fun thoughts! Thanks for sparking this mini soapbox piece.